This invention relates to an agricultural planting machine and more particularly to a planting machine having a pair of rotating disks that open a furrow in which the seeds are deposited as the machine advances and a pair of gauge wheels on opposite sides of the furrow opening disks that control the depth of the furrow opened by the disks.
A machine of the above general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,668, which is also assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
In such a machine, it is desirable to have the gauge wheels positioned on the opposite sides of the furrow opening disk in a close relationship to accurately gauge the depth of the furrow and to prevent the build-up of dirt or trash between the gauge wheels and the opener disk. Due to the wear of the machine, it is sometimes necessary to adjust the position of the gauge wheels to maintain the close relationship of the wheels with the opening disks. For that purpose, it is known to provide shims or spacer washers on the opposite side of the arm that rotatably supports the gauge wheels, the upper end of the arm being mounted on a generally transverse shaft so that the lateral position of the gauge wheel relative to the adjacent disk can be adjusted by removing the bolt that holds the gauge wheel arm on the shaft and adding or subtracting the washers or shims adjacent the upper end of the gauge wheel arm until the desired minimum clearance between the gauge wheel and the side of the furrow opening disk is achieved. The above procedure, of course, may be somewhat difficult and time consuming, since to make the adjustment, the gauge wheel arm and the gauge wheel mounted thereon must be removed to add or subtract the washers or shims.